A look at vehicle ramming incidents across the globe

Hindustan Times

26-05-2025

A minivan that crashed into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans celebrating the city team's Premier League soccer championship is the latest in a series of car-ramming tragedies across the globe.
British police say Monday's incident is not being treated as terrorism. Authorities say 27 people were taken to the hospital and another 20 people were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
Other vehicle ramming incidents have claimed lives. This year, 11 people were killed in Vancouver, British Columbia, when an SUV sped down a closed street, hitting people attending a festival. Fifteen people died in an attack along Bourbon Street that took place just before New Orleans hosted the Super Bowl.
Here are some major vehicle ramming incidents:
LONDON, , 2025 — A 53-year-old British man plowed his minivan into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans who had been celebrating the city team's Premier League soccer championship, as shouts of joy turned into shrieks of terror, injuring more than 45 people.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, , 2025 — A suspect was charged with multiple counts of murder after an Audi SUV sped down a closed, food-truck-lined street and hit people attending a festival, killing 11. Officials say 32 people were hurt. Authorities say the suspect, a 30-year-old man, had a history of mental health issues.
NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 1, 2025 — At least 15 people are killed and dozens are injured after a U.S. citizen from Texas rams a vehicle into a crowd of pedestrians in New Orleans' bustling French Quarter district at 3:15 a.m. on New Year's Day. The FBI identifies the suspect as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar. He is killed in a firefight with police.
MAGDEBURG, Germany, Dec. 20, 2024 — At least five people are killed and more than 200 are injured when a car slams into a Christmas market in eastern Germany. Police arrest a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia who supports Germany's far-right AfD party.
ZHUHAI, China, Nov. 11, 2024 — A 62-year-old driver rams his car into people exercising at a sports complex in southern China, killing 35. Authorities say the suspect is upset about his divorce. He pleads guilty to endangering public safety by dangerous means and is sentenced to death.
WAUKESHA, Wisconsin, Nov. 21, 2021 — Six people are killed and dozens injured when a man drove his SUV through a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee. Darrell Brooks Jr., who drove into the crowd after getting into a fight with his ex-girlfriend, was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of release.
LONDON, Ontario, , 2021 — Four members of a Muslim family are killed when an attacker hits them with a pickup truck. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calls it 'a terrorist attack, motivated by hatred.' White nationalist Nathaniel Veltman is sentenced to life in prison.
TORONTO, , 2018 — Alek Minassian, 25, drives a rental van into mostly female pedestrians on Yonge Street, the main thoroughfare in Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 16. Minassian tells police he belongs to an online 'incel' community of sexually frustrated men. He is sentenced to life in prison.
NEW YORK, Oct. 31, 2017 — Sayfullo Saipov, an Islamic extremist from Uzbekistan, drives a pickup truck onto a popular New York City bike path, killing eight people. He is convicted of terrorism and sentenced to 10 life sentences plus 260 years in prison.
BARCELONA, Spain, Aug. 17, 2017 — A man rams a van into people on the Spanish city's crowded Las Ramblas boulevard, killing 14 and injuring others. The Islamic State group claims responsibility. Several members of the same extremist cell carry out a similar attack in the nearby resort town of Cambrils, killing one person.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia, Aug. 12, 2017 — During a 'Unite the Right' rally, white supremacist James Alex Fields Jr. drives his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one woman and injuring dozens of people. Fields is serving a life sentence for murder and hate crimes.
LONDON, , 2017 — Darren Osborne, a man radicalized by far-right ideas, drives a van into worshippers outside a mosque in Finsbury Park, killing one man and injuring 15 people. Osborne is sentenced to life in prison.
LONDON, , 2017 — Three attackers drive a van into pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing people in nearby Borough Market. Eight people are killed and the attackers are shot dead by police.
LONDON, , 2017 — Khalid Masood rams an SUV into people on Westminster Bridge, killing four, then fatally stabs a policeman guarding the Houses of Parliament. Masood is shot dead.
MELBOURNE, Australia, Jan. 20, 2017 – Six people are killed and more than 30 injured when a car hits lunchtime crowds at a pedestrian mall. James Gargasoulas is found to have been in a state of drug-induced psychosis and is sentenced to life in prison.
BERLIN, Dec. 19, 2016 — Anis Amri, a rejected asylum-seeker from Tunisia, plows a hijacked truck into a Christmas market in the German capital, killing 13 people and injuring dozens. The attacker is killed days later in a shootout in Italy.
NICE, France, , 2016 — Tunisian-born French resident Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel drives a rented truck along a packed seaside promenade in the French Riviera resort on the Bastille Day holiday, killing 86 people in the deadliest attack of its kind. He is killed by police, but eight other people are sentenced to prison for helping orchestrate the attack.
STILLWATER, Oklahoma, Oct. 24, 2015 — A woman plows a car into a crowd at an Oklahoma State University homecoming parade, killing four people, including a toddler, and injuring many others. Adacia Chambers, who pleaded no contest to more than 40 felony charges, is serving four concurrent life sentences for the deaths.
ELDOORN, Netherlands, , 2009 – Former security guard Karst Tates drives a car into parade spectators in an attempt to hit an open-topped bus carrying members of the Dutch royal family. Six people are killed and Tates dies of injuries the next day, leaving his full motive a mystery.
CHEL HILL, North Carolina, , 2006 — University of North Carolina graduate Mohammed Taheri-Azar drives an SUV into a crowd at the university, slightly injuring nine people, in a self-professed bid to avenge Muslim deaths overseas. He is sentenced to up to 33 years in prison.
SANTA MONICA, California, , 2003 — An 86-year-old man crashes into a farmers' market, killing 10 people and injuring dozens of others. He was sentenced to probation after being convicted of 10 counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.